Chien-Ming Wang faces David Price in tonight's series opener at Nationals Park.

Licking their wounds after a sweep at the hands of the Yankees, the Nationals don't get any break this week. The Tampa Bay Rays come to town beginning tonight, and they'll have their ace (former No. 1 draft pick David Price) on the mound for the opener of this interleague series.

With the left-hander on the mound, the Nationals counter with a right-handed heavy lineup. That means Danny Espinosa is leading off, with Tyler Moore in left field and Steve Lombardozzi on the bench. Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse are hitting in the prized No. 3 and No. 4 spots; each slumping hitter is currently taking a round of early batting practice with hitting coach Rick Eckstein, manager Davey Johnson and GM Mike Rizzo all watching from the behind the cage.

Chien-Ming Wang, meanwhile, gets the ball for his fourth start of the season, hoping this will be the start he completes six full innings for the first time. The Nationals could certainly use a quality outing out of the veteran right-hander.

Makes a lot of sense to include Moore in the RH-heavy lineup. Nady seems to make just enough plays (pivotal HR in early-April, stepping up PH duties, catch @ Fenway, etc) to have that direct deposit continuing. I hope the team's in for a reverse lock tonight, have fun to those going to the game, stay hydrated the rest of the homestand!

Not an encouraging pitching matchup but you never know.Man, Zim and Morse have to get it going. I realize that will not qualify as a great insight — or any kind of insight. It is just a plea.It's also the annual Night OUT at the Nationals, and the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington will provide what is always one of the very best renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner of the season, so get there early!

The Saturday game will be on Fox 5 in DC, just like the Saturday game in the earlier Nats-O's series was. It's one of the regional Baseball Night in America telecasts on Fox. The real question is who the announcers will be. Carpenter and Billy Ripken again?

With Price & Matt Moore sandwiching Helickson, looks like Tyler Moore will get two starts. Hard to see him getting sent back down when DeRosa comes back. Werth is about half way through the 12 week time table, was good to see him this past weekend w/o the wrist brace.It has been decreed, the reverse lock is on tonight…

Really hoping for a rebound tonight. I think the sweep to the Yanks hurt a lot more than just some random 3 games spread over a season.When you first see the Yankees on the schedule, you start making plans…getting tickets or extra tickets and building a family weekend around the series. Then they just lay these huge eggs, and you remember the national TV game against the Phils this year, lose again, the big Harper debut in LA with all the buzz…get swept…it just really makes you wonder if this team is going to do anything when the bright lights are on in the fall.Definitely upbeat, first place and all that, but the background sound is of doing nothing on big occasions.

Prior to this year, my recollection is that the Nats have taken the series whenever they've faced the Yankees, in DC and in New York.When you first see the Yankees on the schedule, you start making plans…getting tickets or extra tickets and building a family weekend around the series. Then they just lay these huge eggs

While Price can be a great pitcher, not so sure this lineup is necessarily in the reverse lock mode.Espi has been a good RH hitter this year, and TMoore may still have some heat left from his Jays start. If we can get #3 or #4 going, and Harp is not in the "I have to hit 3 dingers at every AB" mode, we could do OK.

NL — Any idea where that pic of the Rays lineup comes from? It's colorcoded according to with the batters are LH (Blue), RH (Black) or Switch Hitters (Orange). Cool. Aren't the official lineup cards handwritten?

do1teach1 said…When you first see the Yankees on the schedule, you start making plans…getting tickets or extra tickets and building a family weekend around the series. Then they just lay these huge eggs, and you remember the national TV game against the Phils this year, lose again, the big Harper debut in LA with all the buzz…get swept…it just really makes you wonder if this team is going to do anything when the bright lights are on in the fall.(…pull pin from grenade, toss into post, step back…)So you're saying the Nats are a bunch of choking dogs in the big games…?

So you're saying the Nats are a bunch of choking dogs in the big games…? More like, he's saying they would be choking dogs in big games, if they ever get that far. Based on a three-game set. Against a hot opponent. In mid-June. Because it's against a team he's personally heard of before.

Two billion dollars, and they win one title? Please.Harper on Nationals baseball has a good takedown of Boz for saying the Yankees are a failure because they've only one one title in the last decade. He does consistently good analysis I think. One of the most insightful blogs in the Natsosphere.

Harper on Nationals baseball has a good takedown of Boz for saying the Yankees are a failure because they've only one one title in the last decade. He does consistently good analysis I thinkThis dude is a closet Yankees fan. The Yankees are "his AL team." That's all you need to know about him.

Section 222 said…Harper on Nationals baseball has a good takedown of Boz for saying the Yankees are a failure because they've only one one title in the last decade. Good read.Something I noticed some years ago:People hate rich team owners when they spend a lot of money on a losing team (e.g., Peter Angelos).People hate rich team owners when they spend a lot of money on a winning team (e.g., Steinbrenner and Sons, LLC).People hate rich team owners when they're cheapskates with a losing team (e.g., Lerner and Sons, LLC).The common thread: People hate rich baseball team owners no matter what they do.The late Abe Pollin being the only exception I can think of.

The common thread: People hate rich baseball team owners no matter what they do.The late Abe Pollin being the only exception I can think of.Oh, there are other people besides Pollin who aren't rich baseball team owners. Billions of them. All over the world.

Completely out of the picture all day with work stuff and finding that there have been multiple posts today and tons of comments to skim! I think I will need an adult beverage to get through all of them. I found the congressional quote of Bryce to be hilarious. He manages to make news in more than one section of the newspaper. Does the new catcher know about the Nats' recent catcher history? And he still signed? Is he wearing crystals and charms around his neck? I am really hoping to see the Nats play a good baseball game tonight. I am also hoping CMW doesn't have to field the ball or run. He is so unlike the other four who are so good at hitting and fielding – must be all that wussy american league play. By the way – I want to start an early campaign to get Jordan in the conversation for gold glove and Strassie for silver slugger. Strassie and Jordan are hitting 350 and 318! Limited sample size – but not that little for pitchers. Jordan has made some amazing defensive plays – a really good one his last start. Too bad there is no staff silver slugger or our staff would definitely win! I think the organization should tell Wang to just stand there.

Boz calling the Yankees "the biggest failure in sports" (or words to that effect) might have been the teensiest bit overstated–hyperbole for rhetorical effect; trollish, even–but he did write it, so I guess it's fair game to respond as if he were serious. Disingenuous, maybe, but fair enough. Boz's ostensible point does kind of beg the question, though, by assuming they spend all that money to win the World Series every year. Win or lose, people pay to watch them do it. They are a brand, and their brand is that they win, even when they don't, actually. They have to look like they might win, is all, and all the Damn Yankee stuff is part of that.

And 222…..no, that's not how the conversations went but the sentiments of them explicitly addressed the Eck-Davey relationship. Only one conversation took place in Viera and the other two right here in Winter Park.

NatsJack in Florida said… MicheleS……that's what I wanted to hear about Zim. Tells me it's mechanics. June 19, 2012 6:16 PM ________________________________It tells you he can crush balls and isn't injured. Lots of guys are BP studs. Doing it in a game is a different story. Still think its a combo deal – mechanics and its in his head. Good to know he is healthy.Tonight may be the night he goes 3 or 4 solid hits!!!!

Michele, thanks for pointing that out. That makes me a little more sure that this is just a (prolonged) slump. Once Zimmerman get back into the swing of things (pun intended), he'll be just fine.Good to hear that Morse is swinging the bat well. Now let's see them do it when it counts!

MicheleS…..just checked twitter and saw the Zuckermam tweet on Zim.Not only is Galvis gone for 50 games for the Phils, Nix has reinjured his rehabilitating calf and now ia down indefinitely. That karma thing sure has turned bad for them.

Okay people time to take a deep breath because it could be worse:Phil Rogers‏@ChiTribRogers White Sox third basemen are hitting .167 with a .467 OPS. That's worse than the Washington Nationals' pitchers (.200, .526),

You know how I always get so annoyed at all the people who write about baseball because they are obsessed with pitches per inning? They are going to explode all over twitter if Wang ever actually gets a third out. There will be full-blown pitch efficiency panic. Detweiler for the 4th? What out or inning? He shouldn't have cut his hair – Detweiler lost his mojo when he cut his hair. It's just bad ju-ju.

JaneB said… Not a rhetorical question: why are we sticking with Wang? Somebody remind me, please. Really please. June 19, 2012 7:58 PM ___________________________Same reason as Matt Stairs last year. Spent a lot of money on him and egos "hope" he will come around eventually………….Let's HOPE

Sunk costs is a powerful idea, Will. I only had one foot on the CMW bus. Think Det was doing better till he feared losing his job. I hope he is seeing tonight that he (Det) maybe can get it back. Oooof. At this point, lost gameS is worth more than we are paying him.

I thought a man's home is his castle…. with 2 TV's in the house, my traitor son is a die hard O's fan and won't let me watch Nats on big screen… daughter is complaining that all I do is watch Nats and she wants to watch her show… my boss (wife) takes her side so I have to join you allI really thought Wang would get better, i was wrong, we need to find a 5th pitcher fast

Imwas not hapy game 50 when Wang replaced Detwiler, game 55 same, game 60 same, game 65 same. can anyone tell me with a straight face that Wang is better than Detwiler? I don't think so. Except maybe Rizzo and Johnson. Wang can take the Lidge route as far as I am concerned.

Will said… Jane, because Rizzo has invested too much time and money to give up on Wang now that he's finally healthy.It might be a good idea to introduce the idea of "sunk costs" to Rizzo… June 19, 2012 8:03 PM ____________________________He did it on Lidge. Needs to do the same with Wang and figure out something with Henry. Not the future of this team.

Schumatrix said… Wang's terrible. DFA that guy immediately. I'd rather have Ross pitch any day. June 19, 2012 8:06 PM ______________________________You have a short memory. Ross wasn't great either although he was better than Wang. 4 starts is enough to tell you that he doesn't have it. Other choice is send Wang back on the DL. His sinker is not getting the spin down on it which makes it look like BP. One trick pony and the one trick isn't tricking anyone.

Like I said, we need to win 2 of 3 at home verse Rays, this one is over, Strass and Gio have to get the next two. we can not go into Baltimore with a 6 game skid. My God, we are up 4 in division and can't take advantage of it, maybe we are not that good after all?

mick said… I guess davey is being as fair as he can be. Wang was a flop, we invested so much in him and it was a waste, live and learn. June 19, 2012 8:08 PM ___________________________He was fair to Henry at the expense of 24 other players and the fanbase.2 years ago that may have worked. Be fair to the W column now so we get a sniff of the playoffs.

Gonat, we didn't pay Lidge $3mil to rehab him for two whole seasons before dumping him this year. We've paid Wang nearly $5mil now for 15 crappy starts, and still owe him $2mil more. After all this, I'm sure Rizzo was hoping for more than 5 starts before having to cut the cord this year.In reality, he should have cut the cord in 2010.

Mike Rizzo made a great call keeping CMW around for 3 years. Great signing!!! Where would we be without him? I've said it a million times before…I miss John Lannan!!! Rizzo has now missed on Wang, Lidge, Nady, DeRosa, Zimmerman contract and Werth contract. Morse could very well follow suit. The only thing he has done right was the Gio trade…and he had to give up 4 players to get him. Why does he never get criticized by the media in Washington? Take the 2 #1 draft picks off of this team, and they are in last place and well below .500.

you cant be mad at management, we need to find this things out now. Lidge and Wang are simply flops, go with Det and Lannan the rest of the way. Nats need one more pitcher and one more bat to be champions, I really believe that. We may have that already in our farm system, maybe one free agent signing next season

texting with my friend at the game, that you know zim will hit into a double play. He said maybe we will get lucky and he will k, I won.When are we going to move him out of the three hole. Harper's on base percentage way over .370 and having someone who right now is useless behind him is not real bright.Once he heats up move him back.

It sure doesn't seem like anyone is having any trouble figuring Wang out. I have to think the staff is seeing this in his time between starts also. With arms coming off the DL soon he has to be the logical candidate to go. I would love – love – to see him succeed but it doesn't seem to be in the cards – if you are playing for this year then you can't keep wasting the start.

Mick @8:19.. keep that in mind in case this goes crazy tonight.. Okay? I like when you are reasonable.and lls45, Sadly, you guessed right. lls45 said… MicheleS, I'm thinking the 4th inning, if we're lucky

Unkyd..the way we are hitting right now, do you honestly think we will score 3 runs to tie and 4 to win and that is assuming we do not give up any more runs?? Yeah right, and Zim will turn it around and be the hero… I have a bridge in NY I would like to sell you lol

Yes, Ross struggled some as a young pitcher will do in his first full season as a starter. The thing with him is that he has a future, not just a past reputation. If they bring him back as a starter again, they need to stick with it. He actually has the ability to still learn and improve. They can't just keep yo-yoing him around. And he needs to grow his hair back out – I'm serious – the haircuts are bad luck. And he needs cookies.

mick said… this is weird, in less than 5 days, all the flaws of the Nats are being exposed. I am done with Zim, no excuses, he is simply an average player June 19, 2012 8:17 PM _____________________________The Dodgers exposed the Nats and then the Nats got back on a winning streak.Wang just doesn't have it. Can't explain why he sinker isn't sinking. Zim is still in his slump. Rewind your TiVo to look at that 1st pitch fastball he blew by Zim. Michael Morse volunteered to move down in the batting order. Zim should've done the same as a team leader. He is not helping the team and is hurting the team.

Some people say coaching has little outcome on a game. You could see in the 3rd with the leadoff 4 pitch walk that Wang was toast. After the HR by Pena to give the 3-2 lead to Tampa it was surely time to pull Wang.Its on Davey sorry to say.

Manassas Nats' Fan said… My nephew the optomotrists asked me if I thought Zim was not seeing the ball well. I said you are the expert, he said it shure looks like he isn't to him. Just a thought. June 19, 2012 8:25 PM _______________________________No doubt. It is that fine line between mechanics and in a player's head which sure includes not seeing the ball well.Until Zim improves his mechanics, the hits won't come in bunches. If players with bad mechanics get hits.He is in a slump and just hurting the team in that 3rd slot.

Is it my imagination or area a lot of posters hitting the bourbon hard tonight? Spelling and punctuation here have gone to hell – I can hardly figure out what some people are posting.Usually it's just mick…

Lannan was emotionally impacted by his demotion, but he seems to be doing better. And Det was good until Wang started to come back for rehab starts. So that was emotional, too. All I know is that Wang is getting killed. And what FP is saying makes sense: if you have only one true out pitch, all hitters have to do is look for it and swing the other times.Ross, win this job! Hold them to this five and whether we catch up or not, maybe you get the job back.For personal reasons, I really really want us to win this game tonight. It would so matter to a Nats fan I know who is probably here for his last game tonight. Got a big smile out of him when Ian hit the dinger.

What could have been tonight. One thing about my comments, I said them long before the results. Wang stayed in 5 to 7 batters too long.When you are carrying extra long men and coming off of a sweep, I think you have to be more reactionary. Wang didn't have anything going with his pitches tonight from the 1st batter of the game. He made a couple decent pitches and it could have been worse.

These loses are on Rizzo and Davey who insist on trusted washed up Wang and Lidge. At lease Rizzo cuts them but not after major damage is done and Rizzo never admits he was wrong…..not that I care about that except Rizzo makes the same mistake year after year, Washed up vet after washed up vet. That is his weakest suit and it has cost the team at least 5 wins already.

Easy to feel down since the team's down 3 runs & in the midst of a 3 game losing streak. Criticizing Rizzo? That's a bit far-fetched IMO. Wang certainly deserves a lot of blame for this game, as does the untimely hitting of the offense, but not all hope is lost, sheesh.

I am not a drinker, so I am not on the bourbon list. Just cheked the wires, and Wang hasn't been traded or DFA'd yet. I was sure it would be done by now. With Lidge it was a little slow too, I was way ahead of Rizzo on that one as I did it after Friday's game, he waied until after Satruday's game and about noon Sunday. Seems like an unnecessary delay to me. Lets get some Runs. The Mets got almost 30 truns against Tampa at tampa, why are we hesitating on doing the same.

As I said Friday when Lidge came in Davey threw in the white flag, then on Saturday he threw it in again with Kidge, tonight he threw it in again when he brought in Wang. Too many white flags frome the manager.

JayB… in fairness, the Nats had 6 innings after Petite left the game on Saturday to get one GD run and they failed, Davey had to go with Lidge at that point. I think Wang was worth a shot, in Spring training he was on fire. However, he ends up being a flop. Rizzo has saved the franchise and has made us a young competitive team.Having said that, I hope Zim long term deal was not a mistake and Morse was just a one year wonder Even an ill tempered lush like me recognizes the fact that as long as you have pitching your team will always contend. You can afford to take risks on other players if your pitching is tops. Nats need one more arm where as 80 of other teams need 3-4 arms. Where i k nock Davey is sticking too long with lost causes

What has Wang shown in several years and several millions of dollars? Nothing….Nothing and more Nothing……Rizzo just wasted 3 years and development time for Ross D or some other younger pitcher…..THAT WAS DUMB and SO WAS LIDGE MOVE…he does it every year. It never plays out……washed up, injured has been players never work out.

Davey didn't put up with Stairs long after he took over. That was on Rizzo as I know the previous manager didn't want him.Is Rizzo calling the shots on DFA's and demotions? This year its Henry, Lidge, Nady, Wang, and the long slumps of Espi and Zim.You could see Espi wasn't ready in Spring Training. His excuses were pathetic. How did Nady even make this team? He wasn't on the 40 man and wasn't ready. Most people liked the Lidge signing and it didn't work. Henry has been a hack since the day Rizzo got him in a trade. Doubt Henry will change. Good Henry/Bad Henry ain't good enough the way I see it. Wang's numbers last year were up and down but didn't pitch on regular rest. 4th start and none of them have been good. Like I said, a 1 trick pony and the trick isn't tricking anyone.

Some people expect that all 40 players on the roster need to be significant contributors with no faults, no lapses, no bad games. Just root for the damn team and take the hiccups and let them roll off your back. I'm ticked that Wang's got a WHIP of about 3.0 as a starter, but I'm not going through the rest of the roster with a fine-tooth comb.

Davey is perfect for this team right now, but alas, I think he will be Nats Bruce B. We saw a glimpses this weekend of what playoff baseball would be like under Davey, not good. Maybe he will get the Nats to post season, but like many other good managers, Danny Ozark years ago with Phillies, will never win a playoff series. Obviously in 1986 he won it all, but over all Davey's playoff record is awful For right now Davey is perfect for this team

Effing first place team with a lot of promise and ppl are effing complaining about brad lidge with Storen hurt the whole year? Gotta be effing kidding me. New ballgame with Det holding it down, Morse provided the charge the team needed, great two-out rally to have everyone focus on the game and get rid of the woe is us attitude. Get your damn natitude going ppl…

@Mick: You win the Dr. Joyce Brothers Award for name-dropping tonight for the mention of Danny Ozark.Can you please elaborate on how the Wizard of Oze has a bearing on tonight's game, this team, Davey or Life as We Know It in the Civilized World.I eagerly await the counselor's response…

I was also SMH, but at the fact that Matsui was the PH against a lefty. Of course, I didn't want to curse anything, so I stayed quiet.Good news: Price out of the gameBetter news: Matsui grounds out for the 3rd out w/ runners @ 2nd & 3rd.

Love the gamesmanship by Davey. The Rays stalled by making the grounds crew hide the sign in the OF. Sooo, Davey using some inside knowledge from Peralta's days with Washington is used against him… Love it

Twitter from the Beats:Adam Kilgore‏@AdamKilgoreWPIn 2010, Joel Peralta pitched for Class AAA Syracuse, managed by current Nats first base coach Trent Jewett. Could he have known?Amanda Comak‏@acomakNats mi. lgr, here tonight RT @stevensouzajr: Literally turned to @ColinBates25 and said you should see the amount of tar Joel Peralta uses!Mark Zuckerman‏@MarkZuckermanAnother wacky coincidence: Joe Maddon was Angels' bench coach in 2005 when that Donnelly thing happened.

everyone jumped on me when I said it was over at 5-2. We just can not score 4 or more runs a game. 3, 4 and 5 hitters are up in bottom of 9th. If this teams best players are our best players they will at least tie the game. After all that with the spit ball pitcher, we hit 3 ground balls, first tow outs on 2 pitches!

rogieshan said… Perfect timing for Wang to pitch himself out of a job. Oh Henry tossed a shutout inning in rehab today. Next move: Marrero in. Nady out. June 19, 2012 10:02 PM ______________________________Expect Henry to pitch lights out until he comes back. It ain't Henry's hand, it's Henry's head.Keep the line moving!

Michele…..we are past giving thanks for "interesting game" excuse for loss….bad baseball decisions by Davey and Bad Roster decisions by Rizzo……Did anyone not know Wang had nothing…..AGAIN….should have pulled him in the first inning and then cut.

The checking of Peralta's glove and subsequent ejection ended our momentum. Gonzalez had just had squashed a Rays rally and the Nats run into the dugout ready to pick up the lumber.Then a 15 minute delay to check everything and everybody. You could hear a pin drop when the Nats came to the plate. All the air came out of the stadium.Not sure it was the best of moves. But we'll never know.You can bet that Strasburg and Gio will be harassed by Maddon.